4TH IIFL Wealth International Chess Tournament
The 4th edition of the IIFL Wealth International Chess Tournament was once again a resounding success. The event which ran from 30th December 2018 to 7th January had slightly over 570 players from over 20 federations.
The venue this time was the magnificent World Trade Centre which had a 25,000 square feet arena.
The event had 3 separate sections. These included the Junior U13, GM + 2100 Section and an Open FIDE Rated Section.
Junior U13 Section
The event once again lived up to it’s expectation of being the most lucrative U13 Junior event in the world. The prize fund for this section was INR 1,000,000 (USD 15,000) with the winner going home with INR 200,000 (USD 3,000).
The Junior U13 section had 234 players and the winner was Aaryan Vasrshney of India.
This section proved popular with Kenyan players once again. Naiya Gosrani, CM Reeyan Gosrani, Viraj Shah & WCM Devashri Shah were the 4 players from Kenya.
CM Reeyan Gosrani obtained 4.5 points and ended up in 113 in the ranking.
Viraj Shah had 4 points and ended up in 137 in the ranking.
Naiya Gosrani obtained 4 points and ended up in 142 in the ranking
WCM Devashri Shah obtained 2 points and ended up in 210 in the ranking.
GM Section
The GM Section had 120 players from 20 federations. The prize fund was INR 1.5 million (USD 22,000) with the winner going home with INR 325,000 (USD 4,500).
The winner was IM Rishi Sardana of Australia who obtained 7 points.
Gukesh D from India who also took part is one player who deserves special mention. He played in both the GM +2100 Section and the U13 Junior Section! The U13 Junior Section had their games in the morning while the GM + 2100 Section played in the afternoon.
In the GM + 2100 Section he obtained 7 points the same as the winner but 4th on tie break.
Gukesh D obtained 7 points to end up in joint 3rd place in the U13 Junior Section.
He is currently the second youngest GM in the world at 12 years, 7 months and 17 days.
Open FIDE Section
The Open FIDE section had 234 players from 6 federations. The prize fund for this section was INR 300,000 (USD 4,500) with the winner going home with INR 50,000 (USD 750).
Smrat Ghorai of India was the winner in this section with 8 points.
Press Officer
Paras Gudka a well known Kenyan chess player & organiser was a Press Officer at the event.
It is crucial to point out that he conducted a number of interviews but the most important one was with IM Sagar Shah. IM Sagar Shah is a world famous chess personality and owner of Chess Base India. You can find the link to interview below.
Guest of Honour
GM Vishwananthan Anand was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony.
He later later played a simultaneous against 18 juniors.
Praful Zaveri
FI Praful Zaveri was the main organiser of this event. He is the founder of Indian Chess School Academy. He is also a well known trainer in Mumbai and also the author of the highly acclaimed beginners’ manual ‘The Chess Course‘.
Links
Paras Gudka interviews IM Sagar Shah.
A Kenyan perspective on the 3rd IIFW Wealth International Chess Tournament.
